Chapter II, The Irish Summary and Analysis

Chapter 2 covers the Irish, who form the first great immigrant wave into American cities. They start to immigrate in the 1820s, but come in droves during the 1840s and 1850s. They take up low-class, labor-intensive jobs in American cities and live in poor conditions; their communities are rife with violence, crime and alcoholism. However, they improve over the generations—their incomes, occupations, IQs and other indicators all rise and they are publicly accepted now.

In the early 19th century, slaves live longer than poor Irish people; they eat better and live in better homes. The Irish are occupied under the British, who dominate them politically and economically and the British oppression of the Irish extends for centuries back into the past. The British destroy the Irish ability to resist, but the Irish develop vast...